RE: PC based Twilight Imperium 3rd ed. Game Proposal -- To whom it ...

Subject: RE: PC based Twilight Imperium 3rd ed. Game Proposal -- To whom it may regard
From: "Jeremy Stomberg" <jstomberg@fantasyflightgames.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:35:01 -0500
To: "'Andreas Renberg'" <andreas.pisoft@inbox.com>

Andreas:

Our basic rules on things like this are as follows:

1) You must give proper credit;

2) The game cannot make the boardgame obsolete, meaning you should not be
able to play the game online without owning a copy of the boardgame;
3) You must take it down if we ask.

That's a bare-bones overview. In your case, with the admin giving the
players everything they need to know, it sounds like the computer would be
telling the players what cards they had in hand, what ships are where, etc;
so at first glance it would seem you would be in violation of rule #2. We
wouldn't be able to okay that one. If you still wish to proceed, please
give me a slightly more detailed rundown of how the game works and I'll pass
it by the boss.

Yours,

Jeremy Stomberg
FFG

-----Original Message-----
From: Andreas Renberg [mailto:andreas.pisoft@inbox.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 6:38 PM
To: ffg@fantasyflightgames.com
Subject: PC based Twilight Imperium 3rd ed. Game Proposal -- To whom it may
regard

Please forward this email to whom it may regard,

My name is Andreas Renberg and I have been a Twilight Imperium

fan since the release of the third version last summer.

To get straight to the point, I would like to create a PC-based

Twilight Imperium game. It will be relatively simple, with a layout
similar to looking down on the game board from above. No 3-D
graphics or anything large; very simple.

The basics of the game are similar to PBeM (Play By eMail)

versions of TI3. When each person is supposed to make a turn,
they are sent an email by the "administrator" over the game,
telling them what choices they have. Then they reply to the
administrator, telling him what to do. The players can then check
their progress on the Internet.

The major difference with this is that the administrator is replaced

by a computer that automatically updates and changes the
website and sends out the emails. This makes it faster to play
through the game instead of having to wait for the admin after
each turn.

It will be set up by having each person who wants to play the

game download an "instant messenger" type program. When
they want to take their turn, they run the program, log in, and
then the program connects to the Internet.

With this program, they can primarily make any moves that are
needed, but they can also check statistics like what technologies

1 of 2 3/11/2007 4:47 PM
RE: PC based Twilight Imperium 3rd ed. Game Proposal -- To whom it ...

are available to them, what laws are in progress, the progress of

other players (like what planets they control or what technologies
they have), and more.

The reason that I am contacting you is that the game will require
names, images, or ideas that may be protected under copyright
law. Because I do not know much about copyrights, I do not
know where the limit is between "fan games", and copyright
infringement. To proceed with this project, I may need your
support or permission.

If you choose to allow this project to proceed, you will be

informed of any progress and changes you will want to know,
and you will have full control over the project, which means
that at any time you are allowed to modify, remove, or request
any changes to any part of the project.

As the publisher and "copyright holder" of the game, the game

will give full credit to you, and will have your logo and company
name showing where the game came from, as well as links
to your site.

As this is a rather large project with many areas of expertise

required, I will be asking other programmers among the Twilight
Imperium forums to help, and, if needed, other non-TI fans
may have to be called in. (They might even become a fan
after being introduced to TI)

I would like to keep the game free, so as to attract a greater

crowd, who might, in turn, decide to purchase the game for
themselves. However, you are free to decide the final outcome
of the project.

Because this project is very new, I have not yet contacted

anyone to help in the programming. Even if you allow the
project, it may not "get off the ground" if there is no support
from developers. If this should happen, I may still try to
complete the game on my own, although then the game
would most likely be /very /simple and low quality, and
probably unavailable to the public if it is not good enough.

Please contact me if you have any questions, comments,

or would like any more information, like a better description
or my sketches of ideas, or any other information I can
provide you with.

Thank you for your time,

Andreas J. Renberg

2 of 2 3/11/2007 4:47 PM